Effects of different deployment strategies on the dynamic characteristics of bidirectional solar array

Based on natural coordinate method, a multi-rigid-body dynamic model of a bidirectional solar array is established. A typical solar array composed of a spacecraft main-body, a yoke, three main solar panels and two side solar panels is utilized as a demonstration case. Three deployment strategies have been designed for bidirectional solar array. Different deployment strategies are evaluated by analysing the attitude and kinetic energy of the spacecraft main-body, angular velocities of deployable components and constraint forces. The simulation results reveal that the strategy of the side panels to be deployed synchronously after the main panels are locked allows the solar arrays to reach a steady state more quickly after entering orbit. The analysis results in this paper can be utilized to aid in the engineering design of solar array deployment.